Motor racing-Force India F1 team to launch 2008 car in Mumbai

LONDON, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Force India will launch their 2008 Formula One car in Mumbai on Feb. 7, the team confirmed on Friday.

The Ferrari-powered car will not do any demonstration laps in the Indian city however with the first test run scheduled for Spain’s Barcelona circuit on Feb. 25.

The season starts in Australia on March 16.

Force India, who raced as Spyker last season before being bought and renamed by a group headed by Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya, have already confirmed Italian Giancarlo Fisichella and Germany’s Adrian Sutil as their drivers.

The 2008 car is expected to be the same basic chassis as used by Spyker last year with changes to the aerodynamic package.

Spyker scored just one point and finished 10th overall in the 11-team championship after McLaren were stripped of all their points for a spying controversy, but Force India are looking to do better.

“I think there are three or four teams we can target and by the middle of the year maybe more than that,” technical head Mike Gascoyne told Reuters at a test in Jerez in southern Spain last week. (Reporting by Alan Baldwin, Editing by Clare Fallon)